BOND, MICHAEL, ZHONGMIN DONG, and GENLOU SUN.* Department of Biology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada. - Estimation of genetic relationships among wheat breeding lines by RAPD marker analyses.
Fusarium head blight (FHB), also known as scab is a fungal disease
that may infect a number of Canadian crops. Fusarium disease affects
growth and yield of wheat and was estimated to cause a loss of a
billion dollars to wheat farmers alone. Wheat cultivars with different
levels of resistance to Fusarium have been identified, and this leads
to the possibility of breeding superior cultivar resistance to
Fusarium. The characterization of breeding lines derived from crosses
of resistant lines and local adapted cultivars at the molecular level
will provide genetic basis for selection. The 35 breeding lines
derived from Fusarium resistance lines with local cultivars were
characterized using random-amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Two
bulked DNA from either highly resistant lines or susceptible lines
were used to screen polymorphic primers. Out of 160 screened primers,
17 primers generated reproducible and polymeric fragments. The genetic
relationships among the 35 lines were evaluated using these 17
primers. Genetic similarity values among these 35 lines ranged from
0.63 to 0.96. Cluster analysis revealed the association between highly
Fusarium resistant breeding lines with their donor parents. The
potential use of these molecular markers in wheat breeding program was
discussed.
Key words: Fusarium, Marker-assistant-selection, RAPD, Wheat